Originally Posted by de727ups
So experience means nothing? I don't know where to draw the line but I'd say 250 hours doesn't cut it. Hard work, a good attitude, and a prior training will get your through ground school and the sims. It's what comes after that for a highly trained 250 hour guy that bothers me. It doesn't seem right that a Captain should have to be a baby sitter. Yeah, they do it in Europe but I hear the screening and standards are higher. They do it in the military, too. I KNOW the screening and standards are higher.
I think we're on the same page here. It's hard to explain your views on life, the universe and everything in a couple of paragraphs. Experience counts for a lot, and if it wasn't for those professionals who choose to make a career of the regionals, regionals would not be as safe as they are. I personally think that the 1000/100 is a reasonable threshold when combined with discipline, maturity and intense 121 training.
I know virtually nothing about the ab-initio programs but I agree that the screening and standards should be exceptionally high. However, the young men and women with whom I have worked who entered the airlines at age 21 with 1000/100 have been, without exception, intelligent, mature and very focused individuals. That's where good training and a professional environment then direct that focus toward safety and accuracy.
My defense of the low time pilots, of which I was one, is in response to the screamers and doomsayers who take every opportunity on these boards to discredit young RJ pilots. The statistics don't lie. The regionals have matched the excellent safety standard set by the majors and they do it while flying more nonprecision approaches into more uncontrolled airports and making more landings per flight hour, which in my opinion makes it all the more impressive.